Jericho Old New Hope Chapter 3
by Incarta Inc
Summary: Jericho leaves the defeated base of Malbro and begins his long jouney across the desert to Neopolis City. The sands are crawling with danger. Will he make it out alive?


The great desert of the planet in the autumn days of the 21XX years had been growing for a number of decades now. And although the process had been slow, it now covered the entire continent for many hundreds of miles from the equator. The northern expanse was the largest part and many dangerous things now dwelled in its vast, unforgiving sands. Thus, as it became more and more inhospitable, the mavericks of the war began to grow in number. With less people living in the barren wastes, less hunters were needed to maintain their safety, meaning reploids of ill mind could hide out in the sands with a greater chance of doing so undetected. It was this chain of events that had lead to the desert of today becoming so dangerous to cross from north to south. Contending with the sheer size of it was hard enough, even without the residents. It was this knowledge that Jericho counted himself lucky for making it through his first night without confrontation. Though as he continued his unhindered morning race across the sand as quick as his desert bike would let him, he still knew full well that something was bugging him.

He hadn't slept to well. He had to keep his helmet on during the night and was woken many times by the same faint blip and uneasy feeling he had felt while wondering round his ex-home. He was now growing more and more concerned that something was almost certainly tracking him from the air. But he had his doubts. If the signal was coming from some kind of monitoring device, why had no one intercepted him after the scanner had detected him? Perhaps there was no one around to receive the signal anymore. If the attack on the base had not been an isolated incident, perhaps the whole region had now fallen.

Or perhaps it wasn't a monitoring device.

Either way, it hadn't ventured any closer yet, so Jericho tried to concentrate on other things. Like watching out for things on the horizon and trying not to fall off his transport at 100mph onto the often rough terrain.

-----

Contray to what the few remaining governments would have the general civilian population believe, not all the mavericks of the world attack as individuals or at random. Most had now adapted and groups of organised, killer reploids had existed for many years now. Anyone in the business of hunting them knew this. The desert was no exception to this evolution of smart mavericks, using cunning, co-operation and intelligence to get their own way. Unfortunately for Jericho's friends and comrades, one such group had established themselves, undetected, in the very same region as the hunter base outpost and now reigned free and supreme over the whole area.

The established leader of this perticular group stood deep under groud in this hidden outpost, scanning his eyes over a map of the area he now overlorded. He looked up from it briefly as a small, crome and red reploid entered waving a clipboard and looking about ready to pop with whatever bothered him.

"Sir. News from the scout party at malbro!" He waved his little arms around but quickly calmed himself down as he noticed the glare of his leader looking at him.

The worker bot stood only half the size of its master, and was intimidated by this fact. He hid it quite well, straightening up to stand as tall as his little body would let him.

"Did he make it out alive?" the shadowy figure asked with a deep voice.

"He has sir," the little reploid answered, a little annoyance in his tone gave away what he and the rest of the gang thought of this, "He appears to have killed Milo almost right where we left him at those transport warehouses and taken off into the desert"

The cloaked figure laughed, seemingly not caring what his hunters thought of that, stepping away from the work bench and looked out across his makeshift office, "So... It is him...I knew It. Jericho. And he's grown stronger. Very good..."

The reporting reploid tapped his clipboard and added, "judging by what the scouts have found, he left shortly before they arrived yesterday evening. He's heading North my master. Most likely to Neopolis City"

The dark reploid now sat in a chair, nodding in agreement, "That would be his only option..." he went quiet again.

A cough, "Would you have us kill him now?" the minute reploid inquired rather coldly, grinning at his own evil thoughts.

The figure turned in his chair, a hand on his chin, "No... I want him alive. Dispatch everyone. I want him brought to me immediatly"

The little reploid frowned but tried not to let his master see, simply answering, "Understood Sir...". He turned to leave.

"Minrikk" the deep voice enquired, stopping the little reploid in his tracks, "Unharmed would be good too. And get to him quickly. He could prove very useful to us. We're not the only dangerous bastards lurking in this dammed desert. And Thrasher is out there somewhere running solo now. Jericho may have handled his brother valiantly, but we dont know the state of his condition after his fight with Milo..."

"Very good Sir. We wont fail you."

"Dont let him reach Neopolis!" the dark reploid called after his servent as he exited the bunker. "...Jericho. Hmmmm..."

---------

It had been almost 24 hours since Jericho had set out across the desert in search of safety to the north at Neopolis. His progress had been a little slower then he would have liked. He hadn't counted on having to stop every time his helmet radar detected a new signal. It was hot and shade was rare at best. He remained perched on his bike, quietly listening to the blips and echoes from anomolys across the desert. Some he had identified as native wildlife. The larger creatures of the wilderness that he could hear as they stampeded across the land. Others were more worrying. Signals from reploids. Signals from possible mavericks. He knew he had to avoided confrontation at all costs. If he fell one enemy, the rest would pick up on it and would swarm the area. It was tricky to navigate, but so far Jericho was quite sure he'd pulled it off undetected.

However, there were still several days of travel to go and Jericho couldn't help but notice that the number of signals that seemed to almost pursue him from the way he came was increasing. He frowned a little. Perhaps these pests didn't know who they were following or where they were following him too, he thought. But he still didn't want them catching him.

He started up the air bike again and blasted off in a cloud of sand.

More hours passed and Jericho became more concerned as the signals from the south continued to give chase and grow in number. He began to ponder if he should be trying harder to evade them. But the more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became at his lack of options. He cursed at his situation, "Damn mavericks! Damn desert!" He gritted his teeth as he made it over another hot dune, "Why did the base have to fall? Why did that fucking maverick leader have to let me live only to let his friends hunt me down like a dog when I woke? Why didn't he just kill me there and then? Why is that sand hill mov..Agh!" His eyes widened and shut tight again as he swereved to avoid running into the waiting jaws of a desert predator that broke through the surface and tried to swallow him and his bike whole. The bike spun out, throwing Jericho to the gritty ground in a cloud of smoke and sand. Jericho didn't have long to check if he was ok, or even what had just happened, before the renouned, half strangled roar of a sandword reached his ears. And a big one it was too. 50 ft long by Jericho's quick estimation. Very fat and very hairy, the monster roared loudly again as it lowered its head to sniff warily at Jericho's bike.

The hunter stood up and breathed heavily, shaking off the dizzyness from his fall. He drew a sabre in anger but quickly thought better of it. He couldnt tackle a sandword this big with a sabre. But he still couldn't afford to lose his ride. He was hot and bumped and time was rapidly running short on his bike, but he needed to keep a level head to get out of this one.

His thought trail missed a beat as the sandworm suddently began to open its vast jaws to snap up his bike and before even Jericho knew what he was doing, a smoke grenade had exploded behind the sandworm causing it to reel back and snarl at the cloud. Jericho saw his chance appear and thanked himself for picking up those smoke grenades in the back of that truck he explored back at the base. He moved into action, as he dashed for his bike, leaping on and firing it up again. The bump it took hadn't broken it and a good thing too, as the daddy of all worms was sizing him and his bike up again. Jericho excellerated away like he had a rocket up his tail pipe with the worm in close pursuit. It didn't follow for long as a charged shot from Jericho smashed it right in the head a few seconds later, sending it cowering back under the sand, wimpering.

"Ha!" Jericho exclaimed, half relieved and half celebrating at his escape. His truimpth was cut short and swiftly as he found himself thrown from the bike for a second time. This time however, the cause had been something he had been dreading since he started his journey.

"I found you, hunter!" a voice screamed at the back of his head as he was pinned to the ground by a clawed paw, "It's payback time. Payback for the murder of my brother..."

----------

"Let me go if you want to live..." Jericho threatened, trying not to hint that he couldn't move with the heavy weight pressing down on him.

The maverick squeezed his neck tighter, "No chance." He growled meanly, "Gimme a few minutes to enjoy you squirm some more and then I might start letting you go... piece by piece."

Jericho cringed as his head was twisted round from the sand to the side. Looking up out of the corner of his eye he could see the ugly face of the brute on top of him.

"You look familiar", Jericho pouted, "didn't I kick your butt already?"

He stifled a yelp as the maverick put more pressure onto his back with a hard knee. "That was my brother. And not just that, but my companion, my friend and partner in war! Do you know how long me and Mosh had been terrorizing this region? We were practically legends! Mosh and Thrasher. Our names put the fear in everyone who ever set foot in this desert." Jericho was silent as the angry maverick continued to vent, "And then all of a sudden, YOU come out of nowhere and put Mosh away like he was some stinking action figure? Who the hell do you think you are hunter?"

Jericho sniffed and glared up at the tiger face staring back at him.

"Well, I'm so sorry I didn't dispatch you both at the same time!"

That didn't go down well as the maverick roared at him and switched his paws to the front of his face and started pulling backwards, knee still in Jericho's back. A helpless Jericho was being folded up like a suitcase and all he could do was struggle to try and reach for his saber lying in the sand in front of him. He couldn't reach it and the pressure on his spine was increasing. He wailed as he nearly consoled himself to being snapped in two when the pressure suddenly eased and he heard Thrasher exclaim angrily. He opened his eyes and observed that they were now encircled by reploids in matching desert coloured armour, each one pointing either a buster or a machine gun at them. He didn't recognise any of them as friends. These were maverick soldiers. No doubt one of the local clans who had been tracking him. He began to wonder if his situation could get any worse.

A female voice began speaking. Jericho couldn't see her as he was still being held firm. She seemed authoritive and didn't seem to like what she saw. Jericho became puzzled by this.

"Thrasher! We are under orders to bring the hunter in alive! If you don't release him to us, we will take him from you."

This puzzled Jericho even more, "...alive?"

Thrashers voice was deep and raspy in reply, "You cowards wont keep me from my justice!" Jericho was suddenly freed and dropped into the sand again. He rolled over quickly to find his attacker and the maverick soldiers breaking into a fight. Thrasher was bigger then these grunts and was sweeping them aside like dolls, but he was outnumbered and found his hands very much full. Jericho saw his chance and took it, sweeping his weapon from the ground and activating it.

"The huntARG!" Jericho cut down a soldier as he tried to raise the attention of his comrads and leapt onto the back of Thrasher, who was distracted by his beat down on the others. Three slashes to the back of the head and the hulking maverick fell flat on its face. Dead.

The surviving maverick soldiers were quickly dispatched in the confusion and Jericho breathed heavily, powering down his sabre and surveying the carnage.

"That was lucky" he said to himself, rubbing his chest. He didn't have long to think about it as more signals started appearing on his helmet's radar. He cursed at his smashed bike and decided his only course of action now was to go on foot. Local mavericks had been alerted to his presence and were closing in. He gritted his teeth and ran off over the sand dunes. at least he was keeping a lower profile on foot then by bike, but how he would tackle the rest of the vast desert was a daunting task. He'd now added several days to his trip and he was in pretty bad shape already.

But he had no choice but to press on.

---

"Such power..." A girl's voice spoke to herself as she pulled herself from under the fallen body of the fallen Thrasher. She climbed onto his back and looked around at her deceased company. "He HAS grown strong..." She stood up and looked back and forth, "Gone... but I know where you're going Jericho... I wont let you hide any longer. The time has come!" she leapt to the ground and began heading towards the north...

-------

It had been almost 24 hours since Jericho had set out across the desert in search of safety to the north at Neopolis. His progress had been a little slower then he would have liked. He hadn't counted on having to stop every time his helmet radar detected a new signal. It was hot and shade was rare at best. He remained perched on his bike, quietly listening to the blips and echoes from anomolys across the desert. Some he had identified as native wildlife. The larger creatures of the wilderness that he could hear as they stampeded across the land. Others were more worrying. Signals from reploids. Signals from possible mavericks. He knew he had to avoided confrontation at all costs. If he fell one enemy, the rest would pick up on it and would swarm the area. It was tricky to navigate, but so far Jericho was quite sure he'd pulled it off undetected.

However, there were still several days of travel to go and Jericho couldn't help but notice that the number of signals that seemed to almost pursue him from the way he came was increasing. He frowned a little. Perhaps these pests didn't know who they were following or where they were following him too, he thought. But he still didn't want them catching him.

He started up the air bike again and blasted off in a cloud of sand.

More hours passed and Jericho became more concerned as the signals from the south continued to give chase and grow in number. He began to ponder if he should be trying harder to evade them. But the more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became at his lack of options. He cursed at his situation, "Damn mavericks! Damn desert!" He gritted his teeth as he made it over another hot dune, "Why did the base have to fall? Why did that fucking maverick leader have to let me live only to let his friends hunt me down like a dog when I woke? Why didn't he just kill me there and then? Why is that sand hill mov..Agh!" His eyes widened and shut tight again as he swereved to avoid running into the waiting jaws of a desert predator that broke through the surface and tried to swallow him and his bike whole. The bike spun out, throwing Jericho to the gritty ground in a cloud of smoke and sand. Jericho didn't have long to check if he was ok, or even what had just happened, before the renouned, half strangled roar of a sandword reached his ears. And a big one it was too. 50 ft long by Jericho's quick estimation. Very fat and very hairy, the monster roared loudly again as it lowered its head to sniff warily at Jericho's bike.

The hunter stood up and breathed heavily, shaking off the dizzyness from his fall. He drew a sabre in anger but quickly thought better of it. He couldnt tackle a sandword this big with a sabre. But he still couldn't afford to lose his ride. He was hot and bumped and time was rapidly running short on his bike, but he needed to keep a level head to get out of this one.

His thought trail missed a beat as the sandworm suddently began to open its vast jaws to snap up his bike and before even Jericho knew what he was doing, a smoke grenade had exploded behind the sandworm causing it to reel back and snarl at the cloud. Jericho saw his chance appear and thanked himself for picking up those smoke grenades in the back of that truck he explored back at the base. He moved into action, as he dashed for his bike, leaping on and firing it up again. The bump it took hadn't broken it and a good thing too, as the daddy of all worms was sizing him and his bike up again. Jericho excellerated away like he had a rocket up his tail pipe with the worm in close pursuit. It didn't follow for long as a charged shot from Jericho smashed it right in the head a few seconds later, sending it cowering back under the sand, wimpering.

"Ha!" Jericho exclaimed, half relieved and half celebrating at his escape. His truimpth was cut short and swiftly as he found himself thrown from the bike for a second time. This time however, the cause had been something he had been dreading since he started his journey.

"I found you, hunter!" a voice screamed at the back of his head as he was pinned to the ground by a clawed paw, "It's payback time. Payback for the murder of my brother..."

----------

"Let me go if you want to live..." Jericho threatened, trying not to hint that he couldn't move with the heavy weight pressing down on him.

The maverick squeezed his neck tighter, "No chance." He growled meanly, "Gimme a few minutes to enjoy you squirm some more and then I might start letting you go... piece by piece."

Jericho cringed as his head was twisted round from the sand to the side. Looking up out of the corner of his eye he could see the ugly face of the brute on top of him.

"You look familiar", Jericho pouted, "didn't I kick your butt already?"

He stifled a yelp as the maverick put more pressure onto his back with a hard knee. "That was my brother. And not just that, but my companion, my friend and partner in war! Do you know how long me and Mosh had been terrorizing this region? We were practically legends! Mosh and Thrasher. Our names put the fear in everyone who ever set foot in this desert." Jericho was silent as the angry maverick continued to vent, "And then all of a sudden, YOU come out of nowhere and put Mosh away like he was some stinking action figure? Who the hell do you think you are hunter?"

Jericho sniffed and glared up at the tiger face staring back at him.

"Well, I'm so sorry I didn't dispatch you both at the same time!"

That didn't go down well as the maverick roared at him and switched his paws to the front of his face and started pulling backwards, knee still in Jericho's back. A helpless Jericho was being folded up like a suitcase and all he could do was struggle to try and reach for his saber lying in the sand in front of him. He couldn't reach it and the pressure on his spine was increasing. He wailed as he nearly consoled himself to being snapped in two when the pressure suddenly eased and he heard Thrasher exclaim angrily. He opened his eyes and observed that they were now encircled by reploids in matching desert coloured armour, each one pointing either a buster or a machine gun at them. He didn't recognise any of them as friends. These were maverick soldiers. No doubt one of the local clans who had been tracking him. He began to wonder if his situation could get any worse.

A female voice began speaking. Jericho couldn't see her as he was still being held firm. She seemed authoritive and didn't seem to like what she saw. Jericho became puzzled by this.

"Thrasher! We are under orders to bring the hunter in alive! If you don't release him to us, we will take him from you."

This puzzled Jericho even more, "...alive?"

Thrashers voice was deep and raspy in reply, "You cowards wont keep me from my justice!" Jericho was suddenly freed and dropped into the sand again. He rolled over quickly to find his attacker and the maverick soldiers breaking into a fight. Thrasher was bigger then these grunts and was sweeping them aside like dolls, but he was outnumbered and found his hands very much full. Jericho saw his chance and took it, sweeping his weapon from the ground and activating it.

"The huntARG!" Jericho cut down a soldier as he tried to raise the attention of his comrads and leapt onto the back of Thrasher, who was distracted by his beat down on the others. Three slashes to the back of the head and the hulking maverick fell flat on its face. Dead.

The surviving maverick soldiers were quickly dispatched in the confusion and Jericho breathed heavily, powering down his sabre and surveying the carnage.

"That was lucky" he said to himself, rubbing his chest. He didn't have long to think about it as more signals started appearing on his helmet's radar. He cursed at his smashed bike and decided his only course of action now was to go on foot. Local mavericks had been alerted to his presence and were closing in. He gritted his teeth and ran off over the sand dunes. at least he was keeping a lower profile on foot then by bike, but how he would tackle the rest of the vast desert was a daunting task. He'd now added several days to his trip and he was in pretty bad shape already.

But he had no choice but to press on.

---

"Such power..." A girl's voice spoke to herself as she pulled herself from under the fallen body of the fallen Thrasher. She climbed onto his back and looked around at her deceased company. "He HAS grown strong..." She stood up and looked back and forth, "Gone... but I know where you're going Jericho... I wont let you hide any longer. The time has come!" she leapt to the ground and began heading towards the north...

----------

2 more days past and the desert still spread before the tired hunter, Jericho, like a vast ocean. A pain had been developing in his chest ever since his encounter with thrasher and the maverick soldiers 48 hours earlier.

" ..ngeh" Jericho groaned falling to his knees again. The heat was not helping matters either. He had been on the go for too long now. He'd survived 2 sandstorms already that day. One at the crack of yesterday's dawn and another only a few hours ago. The last one had sapped his energy like a leech.

The only positive thing that seemed to have happened since his last fight, was that all but two of his pursuers seemed to have lost his trail. one seemed to be just as hindered as himself and had made very little ground on him since the fight. the other signal was stranger and far fainter. It was the same odd blip he had been sensing ever since he woke up way back at the old base.

The sharp pain stabbed at Jericho's chest again, cutting him from the inside. There was nothing he could do. His head felt heavier all of a sudden and Jericho slumped to the ground, resting his tired body in the sand. He was almost done.

Things were just starting to get dark and quiet, when a beeping started repeating in his head. He recognised it as something being picked up by his helmet's radar. Something was coming at him, fast.

"...damn..maverick caught up to me..." he said to himself as he tried to lift his head, failing. His body had lost its will.

As he lay, he sensed a bright light approach him from behind. It's brightness faded quickly and something landed on his back. Jericho moaned and wriggled as he felt the object move up and onto his head.

"Get...lost.." he hacked. He felt the unknown object hop off and plop down in the sand in front of his face. He could see the creature through blurred vision as it seemed to turn and look at him.

"Get up hunter!" a high pitched voice chirped at him.

Jericho was puzzled. "What are you? Some kind of angel?"

"Nooo!" the little voice cried, stepping closer to his face, "you're not dead. You cant die! Get up!"

Jericho coughed, sending a puff of sand at the blurry creature.

"Come on mister!" The voice seemed to be getting more desperate, "You're getting so close to civalisation now! You cant quit!"

The creature's words seemed to spark some energy in Jericho's body as he listened, "what?"

The little thing was tugging at his arm, making little strained noises, "Yes. The place you've been trying to get to. When home was destroyed by the bad people I didn't know where to go. But then you finally woke up and you seemed to know where you were going! So I followed you. But I dont want to go to that big place on my own. You have to come too"

Jericho couldn't say he understood exactly what was going on, but he did seem to get the impression that he was being informed that Neopolis was close by. This thought was just what he had been waiting for and he rolled over and sat up, trying to clear his head.

The critter floated around his head gleefully chirping, "Yay! Well done Mr hunter!"

His vision was clearing and he began to make out the details of his little cheerleader. It certainly was an unusual looking thing. Small and metallic, with white and gold coloured plating. It had a cute rounded head and face with two bulbs for ears and some very preety, rainbow coloured, holygraphically projected, energy based wings on its back. It beamed at Jericho, a big smile across its face as it waved its little arms at him. It did look kind of like a little angel.

Jericho tilted his head, eyeing the little creature as it fluttered in front of him, "Who... and what are you?"

It giggled a little, twirling in the air, "My name is Prism. I'm a cyber elf"

"Cyber elf? I've heard of you... Or at least, i've heard the theory. I had no idea any working models had actually been made yet.."

"We're still a very new technology. I myself am only an advanced prototype. I was residing with others at a science station near to your home when the evil reploids attacked..." Prism lowered her head, looking sad, "I was the only survivor."

Jericho was very intrigued by all this, "A cyber elf research center? Out here? What were they thinking..."

"It was very secret for a long while. I've been floating around the skies ever since, too scared to come down. But I watched on as your home was attacked too, along with others. I floated around the area for a while after that, not really knowing what to do, until you appeared. I watched you fight the bad reploids and knew I could count on you to get us out of this awful place."

Jericho listened intently to every detail, very focused on every detail.

"Prism?" he asked, "Did anyone escape?"

The look on her face said it all and Jericho lowered his head, the little spark of hope he had kept for his friends and comrades extinguished.

"Sorry Mr hunter..."

"Jericho"

"huh?"

"The name's Jericho" he looked up at the little cyber elf.

"Oh! Well Mr Jericho, we should keep moving. It's not safe here..."

She floated round to Jericho's right side and started tugging on his arm again, trying with all her little might to help him to stand. Her determination seemed to rub off on him and he struggled to his feet, still holding his side as the stinging pain rushed through his body again.

"Damnit.." he snarled, walking very slowly towards the next sand dune. Prism continued to bob around him. She gave of a warm glow of light green as she did. She was a very curious device indeed and Jericho, still hazy, pushed for more answers.

"So just how close to the theory are you?"

"huh?" Prism exclaimed, floating above his head.

"You say your a late prototype. What exactly are you capable of compared to what they think can be done with you guys? Last time I checked you guys were just a pipe dream..."

"oh!" she chirped, "well. The scientists have preety much got the merging process right. But they're still a way off from homing our powers."

"Merging..." Jericho said as he began to climb the slope of the latest sand dune, "You have come far."

"Yes!" peeped the little elf, "When a cyber elf merges with a reploid, they increase that reploids capabilities. Some boost strength. Some heal wounds. Some give the reploids new powers. So many posiablities have been experimented with, but while they've made the process safe, the actual powers we pocessed up until recently were very weak. Sometimes completly ineffective. Storing power in our little bodies is very difficult, see?"

"You said, 'Until recently'?"

"Yes. My batch and I are the first of our kind with a new system of power storage parts. It was actually quite successful!" she said with some hint of glee, "But I'm still not perfect either. They found my powers to be very irratick. They never did work out what merging with me would do..."

Jericho huffed, "Just my luck you're not a healer I guess. I could use one right now"

"I might be!" she said pluckily, floating into view and pulsing a few times.

"No thankyou." Jericho said, being as authoritive as he could, but only managed to rasp quite horsely "You might turn me into a toaster or something."

He heard the cyber elf giggle, "I doubt that."

He felt the incline of the hill begin to flatten out as he emerged at the top. Upon the summit, he lifted his head and observed the steep drop just ahead of him. Beyond that, a vast flat plain of rock and sand. He squinted through the dust clouds and his heart nearly skipped a beat.

"Look!" peeped Prism, plopping down on his head, "Peoples!"

"Thats..gotta be.. Neopolis" Jericho strained.

Off in the distance across the plain, an out of place looking city stuck out of the land. It was hard to make out the details of it, but it was large and well fortified. Jericho felt Prism clinging to his ruffled hair.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked, wearily.

"It's so big. Lots of scientists will be there..."

"And?"

"I didn't mind the little lab. The scientists were nice to us. The lab there will be big and scary." she tugged at his hair once to often and Jericho felt it's waves fall to his shoulders and a little voice utter, "oops. Mr Jericho. I broke your hair band."

He sighed, trying in vain to shake the nuisance off his back, but only served to amuse her as she squeeled with glee.

"I'm not carrying you." Jericho said, to tired to tell her off properly.

She fluttered down in front of his face looking a little worried, "You wont let the scientists be mean to me will you?"

Jericho blinked at her through heavy eyelids, "Of course not"

"Wai!" she cheeped with happiness, "Thank you Mr. Jericho"

Jericho wasn't listening though, as something had caught his attention. His senses were weaker now, but he was still detecting something approaching. He looked over both shoulders and pushed himself into a sitting position, concentrating as hard as he could in the hot sun.

His worries were confirmed as Prism cried loudly and fluttered around frantically, "Bad reploids!"

She wasn't wrong, as Jericho looked back at the sand dunes below to see a group of armed soldiers heading his way. They were clad in the same armour as the ones he had encountered two days ago. One of them pointed up at him and shouted, "There he is! Hold it right there, hunter!"

Jericho rolled over the opposite side of the hill and slid down the steep gradient, landing in a heap at the bottom. Prism wizzed passed crying out to him, "Hurry, hurrrrry!"

Jericho groaned and pulled himself up, Prism wizzing round his head as he did. He began to walk, then jog and surprised himself as he began to pick up speed. The terrain wasn't as tough as it looked from above and he was able to tackle it quite quickly, blocking out the pain in his chest as best he could.

The shouting voices of his pursuers could be heard coming over the hill. Jericho heard his name and another warning to stop. He heard the sound of gun fire as a hail of bullets wizzed passed his right side. They seemed to be threatening to take him out if he wouldn't stop. He snarled and picked up the pace, not willing to hand himself over to easily. He darted between the larger rocks trying hard to shake them, while slowly advancing on the city. He knew if he could just get there he would be safe.

The chase went on for several minutes and Jericho was finding it increasingly difficult to keep ahead. If it wasnt for several well timed blasts from his dash booster, he would have been caught by now. He struggled on as the city continued to slowly grow as he approached. Jericho's last hope was in his grasp.

Which is why it hurt so much more when it was torn away from him, as another hail of bullets ringed out and his right leg was hit. He yelled out and fell to the ground, rolling over and onto his back, clutching his leg.

Prism, who had been ahead of him, telling him to keep going this whole time, rushed back to his side.

"Jericho! Run!" she cried, looking very distressed.

"No good little one. My leg's shot." Jericho bit his lip, numb all over, "Get out of here Prism! The mavericks mustn't get you too."

She protested loudly, latching herself to his helmet, "I'm not leaving you!"

"Damnit Prism..." he snarled, but before he could argue some more, the ground began to rumble and shake. He listened to the cries of the mavericks turn from shouts of victory to cries of fear and seconds later, an armoured jeep thundered past him, a gun turret atop it opening fire. A second one blazed past and done the same, stopping between the enemy and his fallen body.

The last thing Jericho saw was a kind faced hunter looking down at him, and the sounds of battle ringing in his ears before the world went black.

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End file.
